"Lilo and Stitch" Review - Ohana Means... Almost: Disney’s Latest Live Action Remake Is Heartfelt, If Half-Baked

Over the past few years, we’ve been treated to a nearly constant stream of live-action Disney remakes adapted from their classic animated work, from the 2010 Alice in Wonderland remake, which featured Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, all the way to this year’s Snow White adaptation starring Rachel Zegler—a film that, quite honestly, is perhaps best left undiscussed.

And now, we have the 2025 live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch, and honestly, this might be Disney’s best “live-action remake” yet. That lofty perch stems from the fact that the 2025 version preserves a large part of what made the original animated classic so beloved since it came out in 2002. This faithfulness, at least initially, provides a strong foundation that many other remakes have arguably missed, setting a more positive tone from the outset and calming worries that many fans (us included) have had ever since this “remake” was announced a few years back. Speaking of appealing to fans, there are near shot-for-shot recreations of iconic scenes that occur for a considerable portion of the film's beginning, serving as a respectful nod to its animated predecessor before the film decides to just go on its own way partway through.

"The depiction of of the titular extraterrestrial himself is a major highlight of the 2025 iteration, as he's undeniably been rendered even cuter and fluffier, which is sure to delight and drive insane due to said cuteness and fluffiness a new generation of Stitch fans."

It’s also noticeable that the filmmakers have chosen to amplify his mischievous nature here, leading to some genuinely laugh-out-loud sequences, like Stitch spraying Lilo with water, Stitch throwing a CD out of a car and into another car, among many others.

However, the remake nearly goes off the rails with some of its chosen deviations. An entire subplot revolving around Captain Gantu, the head of security for the Galactic Federation, has been completely removed from this 2025 version. This ends up making the film feel weird, as Gantu’s storyline was quite integral to the original film's plot, and its absence leaves the remake feeling somewhat disjointed and the overall narrative a bit underdeveloped, particularly when recalling the original's climax, where Gantu played a pivotal role in Lilo's accidental abduction.

Another change is making Cobra Bubbles unaware of the presence of aliens. In the original 2002 film, he’s already known as a shadowy figure by the Galactic Federation, and it’s this cache that allows him to negotiate Stitch staying on Earth with Lilo; Here, it seems like he’s still trying to ascertain the existence of aliens, and Stitch is his ticket to… something? Again, the changes are very weird. 

But that’s the thing with this film - it’s got its very big, Ohana-tinged heart on its sleeve, and you just can’t help but be buoyed by this emotion. The changes seem to stem from wanting to make the film feel much more grounded and realistic, and we get that to a degree.

"They’ve chosen to handle the fragile relationship between Nani and Lilo in a very heartbreaking yet realistic way, and I guess props have to be given to Disney for choosing to go the “ballsy” route in resolving the conflict surrounding this subplot."

However, given the spotty track record of the Disney “live action remakes” thus far, it would’ve served the production well to just basically remake the original film shot-for-shot, reintroducing the magic of Lilo & Stitch to a new generation with better technology. But that’s just us.

On the performance front, it's great to hear Chris Sanders reprising his role as the voice of Stitch; his vocal delivery sounds as fresh and fitting as it did back in 2002. There is, however, a rather jarring change: Stitch now communicates in complete, almost flawless English. This alteration is quite noticeable because a large part of Stitch's original charm lay in his disjointed, endearingly broken English mixed with his alien language, a unique characteristic that is unfortunately lost in this iteration. In contrast, Maia Kealoha, making her on-screen debut as Lilo, delivers a fantastic and commendable performance, capturing the spirit of the character well. There’s also a much-appreciated homage to the original in including Tia Carrere (who voiced Nani in the 2002 version) as a social worker who works closely with Lilo.

Cinegeeks rating: B+